Circulating Cytokine Profiles and Their Relationships with Autoantibodies, Acute Phase Reactants, and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Published in: Mediators of Inflammation Vol. 2010; no. 2010; pp. 61 - 70
• Main Authors: Anderson, Ronald, Fickl, Heidi, Wadee, Ahmed A., Tikly, Mohammed, Musenge, Eustasius, Ally, Mahmood, Meyer, Pieter W. A., Hodkinson, Bridget
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Limiteds 01.01.2010; Hindawi Puplishing Corporation; Hindawi Publishing Corporation; Hindawi; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Acute phase reaction; Acute-Phase Proteins - immunology; Adult; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - blood; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - immunology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - pathology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - physiopathology; Autoantibodies; Autoantibodies - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Chemokines - blood; Chemokines - immunology; Clinical Study; Cytokines; Cytokines - blood; Cytokines - immunology; Development and progression; Disease Progression; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; General aspects; Health aspects; Humans; Inflammatory joint diseases; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - blood; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - immunology; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Physiological aspects; Rheumatoid arthritis; Severity of Illness Index; South Africa; Autoimmunity; Human; Immunopathology; Antibody; Acute; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Cytokine; Autoantibody; Autoimmune disease; Inflammatory joint disease; Biological activity; Chronic; Rheumatoid arthritis; Evolution
• ISSN: 0962-9351; 1466-1861
• DOI: 10.1155/2010/158514

Our objective was to analyse the relationship between circulating cytokines, autoantibodies, acute phase reactants, and disease activity in DMARDs-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n=140). All cytokines were significantly higher in the RA cohort than in healthy controls. Moderate-to-strong positive intercorrelations were observed between Th1/Th2/macrophage/fibroblast-derived cytokines. RF correlated significantly with IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, and TNF (P<.0001), and aCCP and aMCV with IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 (P<.0002), while IL-6 correlated best with the acute phase reactants, CRP, and SAA (P<.0001). In patients with a DAS28 score of ≥5.1, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-1Ra, TNF, GM-CSF, and VEGF were significantly correlated (P<.04–.001) with high disease activity (HDA). Circulating cytokines in RA reflect a multifaceted increase in immune reactivity encompassing Th1 and Th2 cells, monocytes/macrophages, and synovial fibroblasts, underscored by strong correlations between these cytokines, as well as their relationships with RF, aCCP, and aMCV, with some cytokines showing promise as biomarkers of HDA.